Aretha Franklin

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

"Songs often encourage Black men to define new types of relationships. In "Do Right Woman-Do Right Man," when Aretha Franklin (1967) sings that a woman is only human and is not a plaything but is flesh and blood just like a man, she echoes Sojourner Truth's claim that women and men are equally human. Aretha sings about knowing that she's living in a "man's world" but she encourages her man not to "prove" that he's a man by using or abusing her. As long as she and her man are together, she wants him to show some "respect" for her. Her position is clear-if he wants a "do right, all night woman," he's got to be a "do right, all night man." Aretha challenges African-American men to reject Eurocentric gender ideology that posits "it's a man's world" in order to be a "do right man." By showing Black women respect and being an "all night" man--one who is faithful, financially reliable, and sexually expressive--Black men can have a relationship with a "do right woman."" --Black Feminist Thought (1990) by Patricia Hill Collins